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Does it seem like you work with a Debbie Downer and/or a Schleprock? Is that coworker always waiting to greet you?

When they are the first person I see, I do everything I can to avoid them. Otherwise before the day starts, they will go on and on about the last incident they had with so and so and why so and so is such a so and so and then they will start telling you how valuable they are to the company. Their value of course rivals that of the CEO and blah, blah, blah.

Wondering why your Debbie Downer/Schleprock coworker picks you?

One reason is that your parents taught you that if you can’t say something good about a person don’t say anything at all. So coworker Debbie Downer and coworker Schleprock take your silence at work as undivided attention to their rantings. You may totally agree that your other coworkers are quite strange and trifling, but if you show the slightest indication, you can be certain that your time will be totally monopolized.

My coworker Debbie Downer came to me on a Friday at 5pm, as I was leaving for my two days of freedom, followed me into the restroom and then to my car. I think I had my first panic attack because I felt myself hyperventilating. I had no choice, but to make up some story (a pretty good one too) to get away. Didn’t her parents teach her consideration of others time? Of course not! This caused me to go home feeling agitated. By the time I reached home, I had morphed into Debbie Downer. My husband told me, in his matter-of-fact way, that whatever happens at my job needs to stay at my job. He also stated that I shouldn’t have any problem with how my company is run, unless I stop getting a paycheck. I had to agree. In other words he was saying, don’t bring that mess (my husband would use the expletive starting with “sh”) in our house.

I know that my place of employment is not my life and when I leave at 5pm I will be doing something that I enjoy. Not being there for starters. I also envision myself on a beach everyday reading or in a kitchen trying new recipes (without the clean up of course) rather than being at my place of employment. I do have things to look forward to.

If you are a Debbie Downer or a Schleprock of course you are not going to admit it, so encourage your coworker who you think is a Debbie Downer or Schleprock to look at their job simply as a means to an end and find a way to do something enjoyable. Encourage your coworker to look forward to leaving work everyday to do their enjoyable activity. Drinking heavily and ranting may be enjoyable, but they are not very healthy activities. The company will still run whether we are there or not. For 8 hours of our paid time, however unprofessional, trifling and/or asinine way our employers choose to run their companies, it is their business. You have two options, run your own business or just deal with your employers. If you choose the second option, please, please, please leave your quiet, seemingly happy contented coworkers to their own daydreams of the lying on a beach far away from you.